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Three days after September 11, 2001, an American surveillance satellite picks up a patch of high radioactivity in the desert of Afghanistan. Fearing Taliban nuclear activities, the CIA deploys its agent Ben Keynes, who’d been on the ground there before, in the days of the Soviet occupation. His mission is to locate the radioactivity exactly and determine its source. A clearly defined mission but a top-secret one, requiring that Keynes deceive the soldiers assigned to protect him, convincing them that their target is a hermit with high-value intelligence. The group embarks into the austere Afghani desert. Its tranquil sands, however, hide something far more dangerous than Taliban ambushes. The land itself seems possessed by an entity capable of draining precious watering holes and shifting the very landscape. The closer Keynes and his crew come to their target, the more the legends of the region’s haunting ring true.

In 1999, Daniel Myrick co-directed one of the most resonant and relevant horror films ever, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. He’s back in fine form with THE OBJECTIVE, arguably one of this year’s most important fantastic dramas. In his proven manner, Myrick hauls us deep into the unknown, meticulously building a shadowy and frightening fog of fear. Ever more lost in the desert, the men are gripped by a devastating tension—a sort of dread echoing from works like PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK by Peter Weir or Larry Fessenden’s THE LAST WINTER. Myrick also surprises with his sharp and informed criticism of the war effort there. This well-articulated aspect brings added depth to an already dizzyingly forceful film. With a capable cast masterfully directed and sumptuous eyefuls of desert landscape, Myrick has crafted an ideal fantastic film for a decade of momentous global conflicts.